Selling your home

The average property in the East of England stays on the market for between 90 and 100 days, so once you have found a buyer it is important to keep the conveyancing process moving fast.

The following conveyancing guide has been produced to help you understand the conveyancing process from a seller’s point of view and ensure your sale is as successful and stress-free as possible.

In order to sell your property we will need to create a sale contract for which we will need to know some key information about your property. As such you will need need to complete and send back the following documents:

A property information form (TA6).

A fittings and contents form (TA10).

An overriding interest form.

You will also need to send us your energy performance certificate. If you have not got one of these or if you are unsure of how to obtain one of these please let us know and we can guide you to an accredited provider.

Complete and return information sheet.

Please also don’t forget to sign and date the client care letter provided with this leaflet and ensure we have a copy of your ID (up to date driving licence or passport).

One way of keeping the conveyancing process moving fast is to complete these formalities as soon as possible. By doing this you could easily reduce the conveyancing process time by a couple of weeks as we will have everything we need to create the sale contract. Do not worry if any of your answers change, as we can either update the documentation on your behalf or resend it so you can alter it yourself.

It is important to understand that until your buyer’s solicitor receives the sale contract from us there is very little progress your buyer can make. For example, without the sale contract their solicitor is unlikely to submit searches and they can’t send us enquiries about your property.

Answering Enquiries

Once the sale contract has been sent to the buyer’s solicitor they will review it and then send enquiries back to us. We will answer any questions we can, but others will require a response from you. Some answers will only require a short sentence, but other enquiries will not be as simple. For example, it is not uncommon for the buyer or their solicitor to request documentation relating to work you may have carried out on the property, such as extensions, new windows, moving internal walls or boiler/electric inspections. To keep the conveyancing process moving fast it might be worthwhile finding these sorts of household documents now. This way both you and we can be prepared once enquiries are received.

Exchange of Contracts

Before exchange of contracts we will send you a copy of the sales contract and a transfer deed to sign. You will need to sign and return these to us.

Once the contract has been signed and enquiries answered there is little further you can do as the seller. In order to move towards exchange of contracts your buyer’s solicitor will need to receive: all searches, deposit funds, the signed contract and the signed mortgage deed (if applicable) and they will not exchange beforehand. It is worth bearing in mind that this can take some time.

On the day of exchange we will contact you to confirm you are happy for exchange of contracts to take place. We need this confirmation as once exchange happens there is no backing out of the sale for either you or the buyer. At this stage a formal completion date will also be set.

Completion

On the day of completion we will wait until we receive cleared funds into our client account from the buyer before telling your estate agent that keys can be released. Once funds have been received we will pay off any mortgages or other charges you may have on the property and send the remaining money to you (if applicable) by bank transfer.